Concert notes: Welcome back, John Prine

Considering the Majestic Theatre had one of its most raucous crowds this week — apparently lots of folks at Wednesday’s Dukes of September Rhythm Revue concert thought THEY were the show — it’s a nice contrast to remember one of the quietest.

That would be the night of June 9, 2006, when the legendary John Prine played the Majestic. The crowd of about 1,200 (barely half the size of the sold-out Dukes show) sat in absolute silence as Prine played “Sam Stone,” one of his signature songs — a riveting, unbelievably sad tale of a Vietnam vet who OD’s on heroin. It appeared on his 1971 debut album, “John Prine,” which came out while the war was still raging.

To say you could hear a pin drop while Prine sang lines like “Sam Stone was alone/When he popped his last balloon” was an understatement. You probably could have heard a feather drop, or maybe the soft whispers of the angels dancing on the head of the pin as it fell.

Considering the insurgency in Iraq was at its full, bloody height at the time, the reference to “a flag-draped coffin” was still relevant, unfortunately.

Prine is coming back to San Antonio on Sept. 24; this time at Lila Cockrell Theater. San Antonio rocker Alejandro Escovedo willl open. Those tickets went on sale this morning. It’ll be Prine’s first San Antonio show since that memorable night six summers ago.

If that one was any indication, the next one is on a must-see list.

Prine, celebrating the 40th anniversary of his debut album this time out, had just come off a Grammy win for “Fair and Square” in 2006. He hardly came across as someone coasting on past glories — he and his three-piece band played 26 songs in a two-hour, 15-minute show.

I remember thinking, “It’s a shame more folks aren’t getting to hear this.” Apparently it was a bit of bad timing — school was just out, lots of folks presumably were out of town (while everyone I talked to in the crowd that night seemed to have come from out of town), the Kerrville Folk Festival was beginning its last weekend up in the hills and the Texas Folklife Festival was going on a couple miles away.

Here’s what they missed — “a powerhouse Prine songbook overview,” according to music writer Jim Beal Jr., who noted the crowd was so well-behaved, “it took 67 minutes for someone to yell for ‘Illegal Smile.’ ”

And it wasn’t all somber, not by any means. Prine played “Dear Abby” and “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian,” both hilarious, as well as the sprightly, upbeat “Grandpa Was a Carpenter” and “Fish and Whistle.” Despite having played them thousands of time, he knows people want to hear “Hello in There,” “Illegal Smile” and “Angel From Montgomery” (a hit for Bonnie Raitt), and he’s always happy to oblige.

“There are certain songs that I know I have to play,” he told Beal in his Weekender interview before the show. ” ‘Sam Stone,’ ‘Hello in There’ and some others. When I have a new record, the sets have to get longer or the chatter has to get shorter. I try to fit everything into two hours. I keep the ones I know they’re gonna be hollering for, but I’m not sick of ’em either. I’ve pretty much made friends with all of them.”

Speaking of Raitt, everytime she or Prine turns up in these parts reminds us of one of the great, odd concerts on both their resumes — when Prine opened for Raitt at SeaWorld in 1991. Raitt, of course, was red hot back then, coming off the multiplatinum, multi-Grammy winning “Nick of Time” album. During Raitt’s encore, Prine joined her for a duet of “Angel From Montgomery.”

When Jim interviewed Raitt prior to a Majestic concert in 2002, she had no trouble remembering the gig (to date still her only theme-park show) 11 years after the fact. Noting “they wre piping the concert all over the place,” she added, “I was walking around the park and heard John Prine’s voice coming out of a toadstool.”